St. Valentine’s Day

Have you ever wondered why every year on February 14th people celebrate St. Valentine’s Day?

Why do they send cards with messages of love, why people buy roses and chocolates and show their affection for another person on this romantic day?

Let’s talk about that today.

As you know, the Valentine’s day gets its name from a famous saint, but there are several stories of who he was.

The most popular belief about St. Valentine is that he was a priest. He lived in Rome in the third century. So it was a very long time ago.

At that time they had Emperor Claudius II of the Roman Empire.

He did not like to see people happy and was always starting wars with other countries.

Claudius did not like to see people getting married, because when a war came on, his soldiers did not want to leave their wives and children; young soldiers did not want to leave their sweethearts neither.

So the Emperor, being the cruel man that he was, banned all marriages and made it illegal for anyone to become engaged.

Valentine felt this was unfair, so he broke the rules and kept on performing marriage ceremonies in secret.

When Claudius found out, Valentine was thrown in jail and sentenced to death.

There, he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and when he was taken to be killed on 14 February he sent her a love letter signed “From your Valentine».

So this is the story of St. Valentine. People used to remember him all these years. An expression «From your Valentine» was later adopted by modern Valentine letters in Britain in the 19th century. Later in the 20th century and the 21st, these customs spread to other countries.

I know that recently people have started to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Russia as well.

February is a very popular month to get engaged. It is not only because 10 percent of all proposals happen on Valentine’s Day, but it is also the month that women throughout the world have historically been given permission to pop the question: ’Will you marry me?’

Legend says that every four years, when February is extended by an extra day, women can ask men for their hand in marriage.